9781559390712

Chapter One

A Treasury of Oral Transmissions

Namo guru lokitara deva dakini sarva siddhi hum

Not composing this out of my own mental constructs, I bow at the feet of Amitabha, Avalokitesvara, Padmasambhava, and my gracious spiritual mentor, a Nirmanakaya who has taken human form in these degenerate times. I shall set forth advice concerning the essential instructions on the union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga. May the assembly of Three Roots, the Lords of Dharma, and the Guardians grant their permission and blessings.

On this occasion when there is a confluence of circumstances of the teaching, an audience, a place, and time, as soon as I sat down upon the Dharma throne, I visualized myself in the form of Avalokitesvara, the Great Compassionate One, and cultivated the samadhi of immeasurable loving-kindness. So that there may be no hindrances in this monastic courtyard, recite this mantra to vanquish the power of maras , as taught in The Sutra of the Questions of Sagaramati . Recite it three, seven, or twenty-one times or as much as you can. This should not be recited so [loudly] that it can be heard in the marketplace:

Tadyatha same samavati samitasatru ankure mamkure marajite karote keyure tejovati aloyani vivrttanirmale mama panaye khukhure khakhagrase grasane amukhi parammukhi amukhi samitani sarvagrahabandanane nigrihitva sarvaparasravadina vimuktamarasasa svatita vrddhamutra anurgatitva sarvamare sucaritaparivrddhe vigacchantu sarvamara garmani.

Sagaramati, utter these syllables of the mantra . If you speak of Dharma, within a radius of a hundred yojanas , no kinds of maras will come to harm the gods. Those who do come will not be able to create obstacles. Then explain the words of Dharma coherently, clearly, and mindfully.

Then an offering assistant offers a mandala .

-- Whether the teachings take place in a monastic courtyard or inside the monastery, it is best to recite this mantra fairly quietly. Both the recitation of the mantra and the offering of the mandala are preparations for giving and receiving the teaching. --

Homage to Avalokitesvara!

These are the profound instructions of Avalokitesvara. In presenting the essential instructions of the union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga, I shall first discuss the qualifications of a spiritual mentor. The Three Hundred by Sakya Ö states:

Possessing ethical discipline and knowing the rituals of the vinaya , With merciful compassion for the ill, and having a pure retinue, Eager to serve by means of the Dharma and material goods-- Those who stand out as such are praised as spiritual mentors.

-- It is best to devote oneself to a spiritual mentor with the following qualifications: A fully qualified spiritual mentor must be well-versed in both the sutras and tantras . In particular, a Mahayana teacher should be motivated by the spirit of aspiring for awakening and the spirit of venturing towards awakening. Furthermore, a Vajrayana spiritual mentor must have accomplished the stages of generation and completion, and have extensive experience in terms of oral transmissions, explanations, and empowerments. The Lama must know the purpose of each element of the empowerment, and the disciples should know how to receive an empowerment. Otherwise, it will be nothing more than an empty ritual. This is also true for the vows of refuge. By understanding their meaning and rejoicing in having received them, there will later be less danger of your letting these vows degenerate. This will be of benefit to you in this and in future lifetimes. Otherwise you will be like an alcoholic who gives up drinking for a few days, but then goes right back to it because of not recognizing what truly needs to be done. --

The Twenty Precepts states:

Accept a spiritual mentor who abides by his precepts, Who is knowledgeable and capable.

-- In Tibet, occasionally people took novice or full monastic precepts without even knowing what they were, and some of them never did learn. Whatever precepts you take, whether lay vows, novice vows, or full ordination, it is important to know what they are, so that you truly arrive at their essence. Similarly, the cultivation of the spirit of aspiring for awakening leads to the spirit of venturing towards awakening. Moreover, tantric practice becomes meaningful only if you learn about the generation and completion stages. Engaging in such practices or taking precepts without understanding makes it difficult to penetrate to their real significance. --

The Ornament for the Sutras states:

A teacher of supreme beings Is one who is gentle, free of arrogance and depression, Whose knowledge and understanding are lucid and broad-ranging, Who goes everywhere without material compensation, Who is endowed with the Spirit of Awakening and great learning, Who sees the truth, is skillful in speaking, and is merciful. Know the greatness of this sublime being, Who is not despondent. Expansive, having cast off doubts, And revealing the two realities, he is worthy to be accepted. This one is called a superb teacher of Bodhisattvas. Devote yourself to a spiritual friend who is peaceful, subdued, and utterly calm, With superior qualities, zeal, and a wealth of scriptural knowledge, With realization of thatness and with skill in speaking, A merciful being who has cast off depression.

-- Great teachers of the present and the recent past, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dudjom Rinpoche, Gyalwa Karmapa, and Kalu Rinpoche, were never known to boast about their qualities or to put on airs. A spiritual mentor should not show signs of depression. Without thinking about material compensation, the Lama should serve the needs of sentient beings. For example, as a young Lama in Tibet, I frequently went to places where beggars lived so that I could be of service to them. Many, many times, I would go accompanied by monks to recite prayers for them. We would take our own food so we would not have to ask them for any. Eventually, the Chinese communists took over the area where we lived, imprisoning all of the monks and Lamas who had not previously fled. But I was overlooked, for the beggars had petitioned the government, requesting that I be left alone because I had taken care of them and had asked for nothing in return. Although I did not flee until later, people thought I had died or had been imprisoned. It was only due to these beggars that I was not. --

Nagarjuna says:

Devote yourself to one possessing twelve qualities: Much learning and great wisdom, Not aspiring for material goods or possessions, Possessing the Spirit of Awakening and great compassion, Enduring hardships and having little depression or fatigue, Having great practical advice, liberated from the [mundane] path, And possessing knowledge and erudition and comprehension of the signs of warmth.

Atisa's A Lamp on the Path of Enlightenment states:

Know a good spiritual mentor to be one Who is knowledgeable of the precepts and rituals, A spiritual mentor who abides by the precepts, And who endures granting precepts and is compassionate.

I personally do not have such qualifications of a spiritual mentor, but in degenerate times it is rare to find mentors who are faultless and who are imbued with excellent qualities. Therefore, it is appropriate to devote yourself to a spiritual mentor whose virtues are equal to his faults or to one whose virtues even slightly outweigh his faults. Worship of the Ultimate states:

Due to degenerate times, the faults and virtues of spiritual mentors are mixed, And there are none who are totally free of sins. Upon well examining one who has greater virtues, Disciples should devote themselves to him.

-- Spiritual mentors are not the only people with shortcomings or faults. Disciples and students are in the same situation. We must recognize our flaws and by reading books on Dharma, we can learn not only how to listen to the Dharma but determine which defects are to be eliminated. This is true for everyone because each of us, whether rich or poor, from the West or East, is seeking enlightenment. So we need to abandon our faults and learn how to receive teachings.

I have taught Dharma in the United States for many years. In one high school where I taught, I saw students sitting with their legs propped up, barely listening while they fooled around with other things. On one hand, you can't blame them because they didn't comprehend the significance of what I was teaching. But unfortunately, they were not able to receive any blessings. You don't show reverence for the sake of the Dharma or for another person. You show reverence solely to receive the benefits and blessings of the teachings. --

Lord Gampopa says of the tradition of the practice lineage:

If a spiritual mentor lacks realization, it does not help even if his disciples act with reverence and devotion. As an analogy, although the clay may be good, if its mold has no indentations, it will not form into a statue. If the disciples have no reverence or devotion, it does not help even if the spiritual mentor has realization. This is like a cow having milk, but its calf having no palate.

-- A fully qualified spiritual mentor should have not only the qualities of learning, thinking, and meditating, but also experiential realization that results from spiritual practice. As a result of such practice and realization, one's own mental afflictions are pacified. Today people tend to spend many hours working on computers rather than gaining the inner quality of experiential realization. A computer may have a tremendous amount of information loaded onto it, but we have yet to see a computer that has attained liberation or omniscience. The pacification of mental afflictions is what the practice of Dharma accomplishes and what a computer cannot achieve. The great Mahasiddhas of India and Tibet followed this tradition. To subdue their own mental afflictions and attain the state of liberation and enlightenment, they applied themselves to Dharma. For this very reason, Buddha Sakyamuni turned the wheel of the Dharma. This is the avenue that all of the Buddhas of the past followed. In Tibet, specifically, the twenty-five disciples of Guru Padmasambhava and the many great beings of each of the traditions attained their states of realization by putting the teachings into practice.

If a calf has no palate it will be unable to suck milk from its mother's teat. To give a similar example, after serving the Buddha for twenty-five years, Devadatta thought he had the same qualities as the Buddha. He acknowledged that the Buddha had a crown protrusion and an aura of light extending all around him. But apart from those qualities, he believed himself to be the equal of the Buddha, so he saw no reason to revere him. As a result he took birth in a miserable state of existence as a great preta . To avoid that pitfall we need faith. By the power of faith, we are able to eliminate the two types of obscurations. Through the power of faith both ontological and phenomenological knowledge arises. It is also by the power of faith that both the common and uncommon siddhis arise. --

Nevertheless, according to the general tradition of the teachings, even though I have no fine experiential realizations, if you listen with faith, realizations will arise. In the past there lived in Nepal an intelligent, literate man who killed both his parents. Thereafter, while he was out roaming, he secretly killed an Arhat who was living in a vacated temple. Putting on the robes of his victim, he pretended to be the slain Arhat. Everyone thought that he was that Arhat, and with faith and devotion they asked him for Dharma. By reading the scriptures to them and explaining the Dharma, he gathered a following of a hundred thousand disciples, including monks. Those with good karmic momentum attained Arhatship, and many acquired extrasensory perception and paranormal abilities. Those Arhat disciples who could see with extrasensory perception saw that their spiritual mentor was a sinful man, and they tried to guide him. However, they did not succeed, and he went to hell. This account is explained at length in Dharma histories, and it is called The Account of Bhiksu Mahadeva .

Sakya Pandita implied the same thing in his remark, "Even if someone has many disciples, there is no guarantee that he is good." With respect to the stream of oral transmissions and so forth, even if the lineage is impure, this is no problem. If a hole in an irrigation channel is blocked even with a garment of a corpse, the water still helps the fields. It is like that. Drogön Chöpak received an empowerment from a shepherd, and he received a sadhana of The Perfect Expression of the Names of Manjusri from the widow of a liturgist. The reason he did so was that he was afraid that the lineage of that empowerment and oral transmission might be cut. With that in mind, the Kadam spiritual mentors say, "People's faults do not taint the Dharma."

-- Certain people speak very highly of their own accomplishments, even claiming that they are emanations of the Buddha. Such people often attract a following, and indeed, they may be able to display certain outward signs. However, such signs may actually be due to blessings of a malevolent spirit.

For example, in Tibet, there was a Lama called the Black Horse Lama. With an exclamation of phat and a snap of his fingers, he was reputed to be able to send people's consciousness to a pure realm. These outer signs were not due to realization, so when he died, he did not enter a pure realm himself. Shortly after his death, an enormous fish was found in Lake Kokonor in the Amdo region of Tibet. Parasites were devouring this huge fish bit by bit. A clairvoyant Lama recognized that this fish was, in reality, the incarnation of that Black Horse Lama.

Some time ago, an indigent man made his way to Lhasa. Upon reaching the outskirts of the city, he leaned against a boulder for a nap. While asleep, a malevolent spirit possessed him. Suddenly, he was endowed with extrasensory perception and other siddhis . Exploring his abilities, he discovered that he was able to thrust his foot right through stone and could mold rock as if it were dough. Quickly, word spread that he was an accomplished being.

The previous incarnation of Tonglen Rinpoche, who truly had extrasensory perception, realized that this poor man had simply been possessed. So he invited him to his monastery and greeted him with much pomp and ceremony. After greeting him, he put a rock in the man's hand and asked him to demonstrate his power. Before making this request, Tonglen Rinpoche had exorcised him. No matter how hard the man tried to knead the rock, nothing happened, and he realized he possessed no special qualities. He no longer had extrasensory perception; he couldn't explain the Dharma. He had nothing.

Then he asked the Lama what had happened. Tonglen Rinpoche told him he had been possessed by a spirit, but that it had been exorcised. Upon hearing this, with tears rolling down his face, he prostrated to the Lama and requested advice. The Lama said, "In order to be sure that all of these people don't lose faith in you, I suggest that you go into retreat and practice Dharma." The man did so, but he had to start from the beginning stages of practice, because in reality he had accomplished nothing.

With respect to oral transmissions, even if the lineage is impure, it is not a problem. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche often sought out and received any oral transmission he thought was on the verge of disappearing. It made no difference who was giving it. He would receive it and, in turn, pass it on to make sure that the lineage remained unbroken. --

Even if those who listen to the Dharma lack faith, do not know how to listen, and do not understand the meaning, they benefit from merely hearing the sound of Dharma. In the past, a female dog heard the sound of Bhiksu Upakuta teaching Dharma. As a result, her obscurations were attenuated, and as soon as she died, she was reborn as a Paranirmitavasavartin god. In India a pigeon heard a bhiksu reciting The Condensed Perfection of Wisdom . As a result, its obscurations were attenuated, and after it passed away it was reborn as a man. Thereafter, he took monastic ordination and remembered all of The Condensed Perfection of Wisdom that he had heard before. Moreover, a frog heard a bhiksu teaching Dharma from the sky, its obscurations were attenuated, and upon its death was born in the Trayastrimsa Heaven. Upon examining the cause of its rebirth, with a flower in hand, that devaputra went to make prostrations to the Buddha. The Buddha uttered a verse of Dharma beginning with "All composites are impermanent," and that being saw the truth.

The crucial, primary qualification of a spiritual mentor is stated by Naropa, "The qualification of a spiritual mentor is that he possesses the lineage." The Single Meaning of the Vajra Speech states, "There is great profundity in the connection within the lineage of the holy Dharma." The real lineage of the realization of this Dharma, which transfers blessings, is the unbroken rosary of Buddhas: Vajradhara, Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Dagpo, Düsum Kyenpa, Rechenpa, Pomdragpa, Karma Paksi, Orgyenpa, Rangjungwa, Yungtönpa, Rölpey Dorje, Kachö Wangpo, Dezhin Shegpa, Ratnabhadra, Tongwa Dönden, Jampal Zangpo, Paljor Döndrup, Chödrak Gyatso, Sangye Nyenpa, Mikyö Dorje, Könchok Yenlak, Wangchuk Dorje, and Chökyi Wangchuk, who is Amitabha in human form.

From Chökyi Wangchuk, I, Raga Asey, received the pratimoksa vows of going forth, the novice vows, the bhiksu vows, the Bodhisattva vows of the Spirit of Awakening, and one month of instructions on mind training and the Kadam stages of the path. I also received three times the complete four empowerments of Secret Mantra, one month of instructions on Mahamudra, and two weeks of instructions on The Single Meaning , entailing an extensive explanation of the fivefold practice. In addition, I received many oral transmissions on the inner meaning and so forth of the Five Dharmas of Maitreya and A Guide to the Middle Way . In short, I devoted myself to that spiritual mentor for three years. Just as a receptacle may be poor while the strap is fine, so [while I am a poor vessel] this is a superb lineage. All real lineages of realization of other Dharmas are included in this lineage. Tilopa heard the Dharma directly from Vajradhara and Vajravarahi. By again devoting himself to spiritual mentors of the lineage of the Four Doctrines, he received teachings belonging to the four unsurpassable classes of tantras . The Bodhisattva Lodrö Rinchen and the son Rähula, bearing the secret name Déwé Gönpo, both granted the teachings on Mahamudra to Saraha. Then the lineage runs from Nagarjuna, Sawaripa, and Maitripa to Marpa.

From Manjusri and Nagarjuna stems the lineage of the profound view. From Maitreya and Asanga runs the lineage of vast activities. From Manjusri, Santideva, and Serlingpa runs the lineage of mind training. They were brought together in Atisa. That lineage came through Dromtön, Gyalsey, Kumché, Jayülwa, Gyachakri, Kangkawa, and so on to Dagpo. That is called the nondual union of the streams of the Kadampa and Mahamudra. It also runs from Sharawa to Düsum Kyenpa. Düsum Kyenpa heard The Great Perfection Aro Oral Lineage from his spiritual mentor Dragkarwa, so the real lineage of the Great Perfection is also synthesized there.

Karma Paksi received The Sutra of the Synthesized Meaning, The Tantra of the Net of Magical Displays , and The Great Perfection of the Supreme Mind from Katogpa Jampa Bum, and he gained expertise in them. His compositions concern the union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga. The Pith Instructions of the Dakinis received by Rangjung Dorje from Padma Ledreltsal came to be known as The Yellow Document . For six months Rangjung Dorje prayed to Orgyen Rinpoche, who then granted these instructions to him directly; they are called the Pale Document on The Pith Instructions of the Dakinis . He was given the meaning of the union of Mahamudra and Atiyoga.

In the region of Ugpa, Yungtönpa skillfully trained in the threefold treatises on the sutras , apparitions, and the mind, so his view was chiefly the Great Perfection. Rölpey Dorje had a vision of Vimalamitra, who then dissolved into his forehead. As a result, realization of the Great Perfection arose in him, and he composed spiritual songs and instructions. Therefore, the real lineage of the Great Perfection is also synthesized in this lineage.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from A Spacious Path to Freedom by Karma Chagmé. Copyright © 1998 by Gyatrul Rinpoche and B. Alan Wallace. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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A Spacious Path to Freedom

1559390719

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